#lance

Authorities this broad give the national security bureaucracy the power to scrutinize the personal lives of every law-abiding American. Allowing that to continue is a grave error that demonstrates a willful ignorance of human nature. Moreover, it demonstrates a complete disregard for the responsibilities entrusted to us by the Founding Fathers to maintain robust checks and balances on the power of any arm of the government. That obviously raises some very serious questions. What happens to our government, our civil liberties and our basic democracy if the surveillance state is allowed to grow unchecked? As we have seen in recent days, the intelligence leadership is determined to hold on to this authority. Merging the ability to conduct surveillance that reveals every aspect of a person’s life with the ability to conjure up the legal authority to execute that surveillance, and finally, removing any accountable judicial oversight, creates the opportunity for unprecedented influence over our system of government. ↗

— Ron Wyden

#national-security #secrets #surveillance #intelligence

Your relationships with others are always a direct reflection of the relationship you have with yourself. ↗

— Michael Thomas Sunnarborg

#relationship #relationship

Short-story writing requires an exquisite sense of balance. Novelists, frankly, can get away with more. A novel can have a dull spot or two, because the reader has made a different commitment. ↗

— Lynn Abbey

#balance #because #commitment #different #dull

A more effective international disease surveillance system is essential for global security both against a bioterrorist attack or a naturally occurring disease. ↗

— Daniel Akaka

#attack #both #disease #effective #essential

You can do gross-out until the cows come home but if there isn't something to balance it, then it's not going to work at all. ↗

— Curtis Armstrong

#come #cows #going #gross-out #home

It's so hard to keep everything balanced in life. ↗

— Rosanna Arquette

#everything #hard #keep #life

When a man asks himself what is meant by action he proves that he isn't a man of action. Action is a lack of balance. In order to act you must be somewhat insane. A reasonably sensible man is satisfied with thinking. ↗

— James A. Baldwin

#action #asks #balance #himself #insane

Nowadays, the process of growth and development almost never seems to manage to create this subtle balance between the importance of the individual parts, and the coherence of the environment as a whole. One or the other always dominates. ↗

— Christopher Alexander

#always #balance #between #coherence #create

I would be absolutely astounded if population growth and industrialisation and all the stuff we are pumping into the atmosphere hadn't changed the climatic balance. Of course it has. There is no valid argument for denial. ↗

— David Attenborough

#argument #astounded #atmosphere #balance #changed

If a dog doesn't put you first where are you both? In what relation? A dog needs God. It lives by your glances, your wishes. It even shares your humor. This happens about the fifth year. If it doesn't happen you are only keeping an animal. ↗

— Enid Bagnold

#animal #both #dog #even #fifth